Packet-holder



B. ASHBY.

PACKET HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED IUNEZI. l9l9.

'Patented Jan.27,1920.

c iTEn sTATEs PATNT oFFicE.

BERT ASI-IBY, OF EL PASO, TEXAS.

PACKET-HOLDER.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERT Asi-IBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at El Paso, in the county of El Paso and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful 1mprovements in Packet-Holders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to package ties, and more especially to those employing a cord and a clasp plate; and the object of the same is to produce a packet holder intended more particularly for wrapping and tying a bundle of inail matter such as a bunch of letters which have been sorted and are all addressed and to be sent to the same city or town. The Post Ofiice Department desires an article of this class which, in addition to simplicity of structure and consequent inexpensiveness, shall be durable and particularly capable of quick application to a package Or packet, which it must hold with a grip not likely to become loosened in the rough usage to which mail .Inatter is subjected in transport.

Tt is the aim of the present invention to produce an article for filling these requirements, to which end the first feature of the invention is its extreme simplicity as it consists merely of a plate of sheet metal which can be formed at a single stroke of the die, and a cord attached to one end of the plate.

Coincidently and necessarily it is another object of the invention to produce an article which is cheap, easy to handle, and durable. details are set forth below, and reference is made to the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a package or packet tied by the use of this improved device.

Fig. '2 -is an enlarged central longitudinal section through the plate.

Stamped by a die or otherwise formed from a sheet of appropriate and slightly resilient metal is a plate whose body is herein numbered 1, its front and rear ends and corners being rounded as at 2, and its front end which will be called the toe being pierced with an eye 3 into which a cord 4 is passed and tied or knotted at one end as at 5, the cord being long enough to reach from the toe end of the plate once around the packet 6 lengthwise and then at least once around the same packet crosswise and its free extremity being indicated at 7. Many devices of this kind have such a plate and such a cord, and the details of the pres- Speciication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 27, 19720.

Application filed June 21, 1919. Serial No. 305,738.

ent invention lie inthe specific shape of that part of the plate which is to engage the cord where it makesthe first bend 8 and again where it is passed across the plate point 14 which is the shank of the tongue.l

The latter in its final formation extends from said shank obliquely downward and forward as at 15, is bent at an acute angle and carried thence upward in a shoulder 16, is bent at an angle and thence carried forward at 17 in a stretch which lies normally just below the plane of the plate as seen in ig. 2, and forward of this stretch the tongue is humped downwardly a little as at 18 leaving its tip 19 standing in the plane of the plate but considerably withdrawn from the front end of the opening produced by the cross slit 12 due to the formation of these several bends in the tongue. It is preferred that no part of the tongue shall rise normally above the plane of the plate, and therefore at least one side of this device is flat and extraneous objects will not catch thereon when the article lies on a bench or table or when it is kept in a box` as usual. The terms upward and downward have been used in connection with the parts of the tongue as describing them with reference to the entire article when standing in its normal or working position, because the active face of the plate is opposite to that beyond which the shoulder 16 extends.

In tying a packet 6 with this article, the plate is laid on the packet about as seen in Fig. 1, and the cord led from the toe end thereof over one end of the packet at a, across the back of the packet and over the other end at then the tip 19 of the tongue is raised and the cord passed thereunder and bent at the point 8, and the loop around the packet endwise drawn quite tight. This forces the cord well back against the face of the shoulder 16, and raises the stretch 17 suiiiciently high to allow the transverse cord to pass beneath it and across the plate. Thence the cord is led around one edge of the packet as at c and across the back of the same and around the other edge as at d, and its free end is again passed under the tip 19 and brought to rest beneath the stretch 17,

and the spring of the tongue which has a normal downward tendency will bear both stretches of cord onto the side bars of the plate and prevent it from slipping. The tip of the tongue can be raised by inserting the finger nail beneath it, or it can be caused to rise by pressing the entire plate downward onto the packet so that the latter forces upward theangle between the stretch 15 and thel shoulder 16. As soon as either stretch of cord is passed under the tip and moved toward the rear end of the plate, its movement causes it to travel beneath the hump 18 lwhich necessarily raises the tongue. Finally the first stretch ofcord will come to rest against the shoulder 15 and the second stretch of cord against the first stretch, and the downward tendency of the tongue will cause the stretch 17 to bear both stretches of cord ontothe side bars of the body. Thus all the various parts or stretches of the. tongue have their appropriate functions, and in the final condition of parts that stretch or loop of the cord which embraces the packet lengthwise lies in contact with that which embraces it transversely so that not only ydoes the tongue grip both loops, but it holds the stretches of both loops in contact with each other. While the preferred and usual manner of tying the packet has been described, it is quite possible to carry the cord around it transversely first and endwise last, and it is also possible to carry either or both the loops a second time around the packet. The grip of the stretch 17 of the tongue upon the cord is suoli that in some cases it may be sufficient to form the cord into but a single loop passing around the packet only once; or in other words, it is not necessary to the successful operation of the device that a plurality of stretches of cord shall underlie the raised portion 17 of the tongue. Therefore, the widest latitude is reserved .as to the uses of this device, and its materials and proportions of parts may be left to the manufacturer.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A package tie including a body, and a tongue connectedto the body and having cord engaging means normally disposed below the plane of the body and adapted to be temporarily positioned above the plane of the body to engage a cord.

2. A package tie including a body, and a tongue connected to the body and having cord engaging means, the rear end portion of said tongue being extended downwardly for normally disposing said cord engaging means below the upper side of the body.

8. A package tie including` a body, and a tongue connected to the body and having cord engaging means, the rear end portion of said tongue being extended downwardly for normally disposing said cord engaging means below the upper side of the body, the forward end portion of said tongue being normally disposed in the plane of the body for 'presenting a fiat upper surface to the body.

11. A package tie including a body having longitudinal and transverse incisions forming a tongue, said tongue having its intermediate portion provided with a pair of shoulders forming a cord engaging member, the rear end portion of said tongue being extended downwardly for normally disposing said cord engaging member below the upper side of the body.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature.

BERT AsriBY. 

